See Dubai's Metro Museums

Dubai Metro Museumshttp://www.visitdubai.com/en/articles/dubai-metro-museums20140718T13565720140718T13565720161108T190344:636142286244644303Museums in Dubai
Dubai may soon have not only the world’s longest driverless Metro network (one of the city’s many superlatives), but also one of the world’s most engaging Metro networks as well. Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and the RTA just announced a AED 184 million plan to transform six stations into art museums by March 2015, each with a different creative theme.
Dubai Metro is transforming six stations into art museums by 2015.

Dubai may soon have not only the world’s longest driverless Metro network (one of the city’s many superlatives), but also one of the world’s most engaging Metro networks as well. Dubai Culture and Arts Authority and the RTA recently announced a AED 184 million plan to transform six stations into art museums by March 2015.

There’ll be light displays on the roofs of the stations, synchronised music, 3-D shows, and a variety of special artistic performances to wow the more than 137 million visitors who visit the Metro stations every year. Interactive apps will invite lingering via your smartphone. You can even ride in an art installation: Train carriages are getting wrapped in e-paper technology to create moving pieces of art.

It’s all part and parcel of the massive investment in the arts that Dubai is making, including a 200-hectare opera house and arts district and other projects in advance of the World Expo 2020. This cultural push is an important priority for His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

“We can together add more glamour and elegance to our city through artistic touches illustrating the rich, innovative, and unique cultural fabric of Dubai,” explained Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Minister of Health and Chairman of the Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, on announcement of the plan.

The Metro stations will add to the city’s flourishing arts scene and will provide, quite literally, platforms for stunning art installations. (Even bridges and underpasses are getting decorative once-overs.)

And what of the actual platforms? Each station will have a particular theme: BurJuman (music and art), Financial Centre Station (Islamic coin gallery), Burj Khalifa / Dubai Mall Station (an e-library), Emirates Towers Station (Islamic decorations and manuscripts), and Business Bay Station (photography).

The sixth, Noor Bank Station, is expected to have the most wide-ranging focus. Riders and visitors can expect a diverse collection of paintings, design, sculptures and other multimedia works — collectively forming a contemporary art museum — from artists around the world.